Buckeye, Arizona.
It wasn’t our first hike on this section of the Verrado Trails, but with a cloudy sky and cool temperatures, it was more pleasant than if it was under the typically hot Arizona sun. The hike is a giant loop clocking in at about 2.5 hours and 5.5 miles (8.8 km). Continue reading
Peoria, Arizona.
I always enjoy the views of the saguaro cacti on our hikes in Arizona. As I have commented many times over the years, this species of succulent is found only in the wettest desert in the world, the Sonoran Desert, mostly in Arizona and northernmost Mexico. Continue reading
Peoria, Arizona.
It’s about an hour’s drive from our house in Buckeye to Lake Pleasant. It’s a long way to go for a typical hike, but it’s such a beautiful location, I usually try to hike the Pipeline Canyon Trail at least once a year. That’s two-miles out, two miles back, and we get to cross a canyon on a floating bridge in the process. Continue reading
Buckeye, Arizona.
In November 2020, on one of our first Arizona hikes for the 2020-21 hiking season, our group was hiking in Skyline Park on the Granite Falls Trail. For me, it was the first hike of the season. We took it easy to “break-in” these old hiking legs. Continue reading
Buckeye, Arizona.
It was Spring 2020 in the White Tank Mountains. Even on our hikes, we were social distancing, single file, group photos taken in the line we’d formed as we hiked down the trail instead of gathering around a single person to grab a “group selfie.” The cactus flowers were plentiful, the day warm and sunny and I had plenty of opportunity to capture those rarely seen flowering cactus. One family of cacti, the Cholla has several varieties. The two that I’ve found most hard to distinguish are the Staghorn and the Buckhorn. For this post, I ended up looking for a definitive source to describe the difference here. The short synopsis of the difference is that they “are sometimes hard to distinguish.” They have similar blossoms, but the most obvious distinction is in the fruit. Well there you go. I’ve never seen a fruit on either variety. Continue reading
Buckeye, Arizona.
In March of this year, the desert was awash with spring flowers near our home in Buckeye. There was no shortage of opportunity to capture the bright yellow brittlebush plants that are plentiful in the Sonoran Desert. On one of our Saturday hikes, I was still learning about the new Samsung S20U phone that replaced my personal S6 and the “work” phone that was provided to me from Civil Air Patrol (CAP). That phone, a Samsung S7, captured many images that I shared here because of my 4-year tenure as North Dakota Wing Commander in CAP. As of April 4, I would rotate out of that job and the S7 would be retired as I no longer need a CAP-provided cell phone. Continue reading
Buckeye, Arizona.
With my retirement as North Dakota Wing Commander, I give up access to a business phone provided by Civil Air Patrol (CAP). When I took that job four years ago, my personal phone was a Samsung S6. Other than occasional use, most of the time, it was shut off and all calls were sent to my CAP cell phone so I wouldn’t have to carry two phones around. Continue reading
Fort Morgan, Colorado.
In 1922, the Colorado Bridge and Construction Company began constructing a multi-span, reinforced concrete arch bridge across the South Platte River in eastern Colorado. The bridge was completed in 1923 and named The Rainbow Arch Bridge. Located adjacent to State Highway 52 and a much newer set of highway bridges, the Rainbow Arch Bridge was closed for a time in 2015 to complete repair work and a freshening due to damage and flooding in 2013 and 2015. It is now open again, and like before, it is only used for pedestrian access to nearby Riverside Park. To visit the bridge, take state highway 52 north from I-76 (Exit 80). Continue reading
This week, Amy asks us to get narrow-minded… er, ah…. well, that’s not exactly the way she put it. What she wrote was, “Travel has taught me that once we go through a narrow path, alley, and/or road with a little patience, at the end it always opens up to pleasant surprises. The experience certainly has broadened my horizon allowing me to see the world through different eyes. Thus, I choose “narrow” for this week’s theme. We hope you will join us and share your photos with us.” You can read her entire challenge post here. Continue reading
Buckeye, Arizona.
On our last Thursday hike in January, we headed on a round-about way to the highest point on Turnbuckle Trail. The views of the park and beyond are beyond the capability of even the best cameras. Given that, having only my Samsung S6 with me, I submit for your review a view of the valley to the west of Skyline Park. This vantage point is almost 650 feet (200 m) above the desert floor. Continue reading
